Organization
The workgroup agreed on the purpose of the meeting and the following desired
outcomes:

Complete first deliverable to Task Force by July 17: Define
issues for which the workgroup intends to develop recommendations.

Agree on workgroup’s process to complete its overall charge.

Workgroup Issues
The workgroup reviewed the list of issues identified by the full Task Force
on June 28 to assure clarity and understanding. Members also offered
additional issues for the group to consider.

List Reduction
The workgroup then narrowed the list of issues. To help focus this discussion
Eddie Lee reviewed the legislative charge, “to study the current tuition
rate-setting methodology for preschool education programs and services and
make recommendations for improvement.”

To develop parameters for the relative importance of the issues, workgroup
members were asked to think about:

which pre-school special education programs to review,

what types of recommendations the group would like to focus on, i.e., redundancies,
inefficiencies, tuition, fee-for services programs, etc.

Using these parameters, the issues were refined and classified into two focus
areas: timeliness/process and adequacy of rates to fund necessary services. Those
issues that do not directly have rate-setting implications will be referred
to the Task Force for appropriate action.

A one page document summarizing these issues will be presented to the Task
Force at the July 17th meeting. To review the summary of the agreed upon
issues, please see the attached document. Once Task Force endorsement
is received they will be the focus of workgroup recommendations.

Work Plan
Once the issues were identified the workgroup developed a work plan which included
specific deliverables the workgroup must complete to meet its charge. The
milestones/timeframes are as follows:
July - Establish
the focus areas of the workgroup.
Report
these focus areas to Task Force on July 17th.
August - Develop
preliminary recommendations.
September- Have a set of draft final recommendations
to present to the Task Force.

Workgroup Operations
The workgroup members agreed that communication between meetings is vital. A
listing of members email addresses will be circulated. Members are encouraged
to think about and share recommendations at any time, not wait for a meeting.

Workgroup members discussed information/resources they would like to have. They
are as follows:

Brief presentations regarding rate
setting methodologies in various settings (OCFS, OMR, SED, OMH, DOH early
intervention) (Eddie Lee and Tom Hamel will coordinate). Ideally
these presentations/discussions will occur at the next workgroup meeting,
August 1, 2007.

Next Meetings
The schedule of future meetings was reviewed and verified. The schedule
is as follows:

Date

Time

Tentative Location

Wednesday, August 1

1pm - 4pm

OMRDD - Room 4C

Wednesday, August 15

11am - 2pm

OMRDD - Room 4A

Wednesday, September 12

11am - 5pm

OMRDD - Room 4C

Monday, September 24

11am - 2pm

OMRDD - Room 4C

Tuesday, October 9

11am - 5pm

OMRDD - Room 4A

Wednesday, October 31

11am - 2pm

OMRDD - Room 4C

Wrap Up
The group reviewed items that are important to the Task Force but do not have
rate- setting implications. These issues will be presented to the Task Force
for discussion and possible referral. They are as follows:

County involvement in the administration and funding of programs. This
is not a rate-setting issue but is an important historical policy
that frames issues of fiscal accountability, costs and efficiency.

Medicaid reimbursement - policy issue. How Medicaid is used is
not a rate- setting issue. The parameters are established
by the federal and state budgeting guidelines.

Reimbursement for transportation for pre-schools. Should this be
examined? Are Municipalities the public entity that can do this most
efficiently?